Pick your era

If you could spend your 60 years, give or take, in any past period in any part of the world, when would you choose? It's a given that you'd be familiar with the language/culture, etc. and not be dropped in in a Star Trek "City On the Edge Of Forever" fashion. A time of war? Or a point when fantastic inventions came about? Or art? The birth of a country?

I would love to have been part of Lewis and Clark's "Corps of Discovery Expedition". Granted I may not have lived to 60, but it would've been an unbelievable journey.

WWI era. I'd go to war all gung-ho, but faced with the grizzly red dog of battle I would soon become a conscientious objector. While my comrades cheerfully sang "It's a Long Way to Tipperary", I'd be in a dark corner contemplating reality. At some point I'd get holed up with a corpse of the enemy, whom I killed in the heat of the moment but later regretted when I discovered he had a wife and children. While waiting in the trenches for bombardments I'd write anti-war poetry which would only be published after my death. I'd be killed in battle just before the war ended.

My father was born in 1929. He always said he was born at the right time. His father had a decent job through the Depression. Too young for WWII, in college during Korea. Came to Southern California in the early 50s. Started and raised a family in the 50s and 60s. Retired with a pension.

So many of the things that were expected or normal are extinct or dying out. On one income, with a family of 6, we could afford a camper. I remember taking off on a Friday evening for a weekend in the desert. That's gotten out of reach for many. We weren't rich, just upper middle class.

I would have liked to be a Roman soldier, maybe during the Punic Wars. What things would I have seen or done? Would I have been a good soldier and maybe become a veteran or a centurion? Would I have been killed? I mean, you read about entire legions marching off into the wilderness to do the will of the republic and vanishing! It wouldn't have been easy and enlistment terms were usually for about 15 to 20 years but that is where I would have liked to be.

WWI era. I'd go to war all gung-ho, but faced with the grizzly red dog of battle I would soon become a conscientious objector. While my comrades cheerfully sang "It's a Long Way to Tipperary", I'd be in a dark corner contemplating reality. At some point I'd get holed up with a corpse of the enemy, whom I killed in the heat of the moment but later regretted when I discovered he had a wide and children. While waiting in the trenches for bombardments I'd write anti-war poetry which would only be published after my death. I'd be killed in battle just before the war ended.

I don't care if you are on a unicycle, as long as you're not using a motor to get places you get props from me. We're here to support each other. Share ideas, and motivate one another to actually keep doing it.